Fullmetal Alchemist: Reunion
by Jack Tennant
Summary: A year after reclaiming his body, Alphonse Elric sets off for Table City in order to see the girl of his dreams, Julia Crichton. But will Al be able to muster the courage to offer his heart to Julia? And how will Julia react to Al's return? Will she accept his offer? Let's find out. Al/Julia mainly. Ed/Winry mentioned
1. Chapter 1

**This is my very first story, so feel free to read and review. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Hope you all enjoy it.**

**Warning: This story contains spoilers about** **the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, 2009 anime, and the 2011 film **_**The Sacred Star of Milos**_**.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. All credit for the characters and world goes to Hiromu Arakawa.**

**Fullmetal Alchemist: Reunion**

**Chapter 1**

"What if she doesn't remember me?"

"She'll remember you Al. Don't worry so much."

"But what if she doesn't believe its me?"

"I'll be with you, so why wouldn't she?"

"But what if she doesn't like m-"

"Al!", Edward interjected, "You've been going on like this for the whole damn train ride. I know your nervous but you've really gotta calm down. All your doing by getting worked up like this is making yourself more nervous to see her, and annoying the hell out of me."

Ed's words seemed to sink in a bit as Al stopped his flurry of nervous questions he had indeed been asking his brother since the train left Resembool for Table City. Even so Al couldn't keep the anxiety he had been feeling since he decided to take this trip out West. In fact Al had been so nervous about coming out here that he had pleaded for his older brother to come with him which, after much eye-rolling, he had agreed. Of course, Ed would be willing to do anything for his younger brother, but that didn't mean he wanted to pander to Alphonse's nervous fears about if his crush would indeed be happy to see him after all this time.

It had been nearly a year and a half since the Elric Brothers had last been in Table City: When they had been chasing a fugitive Alchemist that had broken out of the prison in Central. When they had arrived in the city they suddenly found themselves caught up in a battle to liberate the long oppressed nation of Milos from occupation by both Amestris and Creta. A battle which at its heart was the very young that the two young alchemists had once doggedly searched for in hopes of restoring their bodies: The Philosopher's Stone. After a long and gruesome fight to decide the fate of the valley, the Stone had been destroyed and the Cretan military had evacuated the area for the time being, and with the corrupt leaders of the Amestrian forces in the city arrested, Milos was able to officially declare its independence from both nations.

Both brothers had left the City with a better understanding of how the actions of the Military directly affected the lives of so many people, even those not of Amestris. While their main focus at the that point was still to find a way to restore Al's body, both of them had been left with a desire to see a change in their homeland and an end of all of the senseless violence that had caused so much pain to so many people. A desire that would eventually come true in the aftermath of the Promised Day: When the corrupt leaders and their Homunculi masters had been purged from Central Command. Now Amestris was finally on the path to a brighter future of love and peace

Of course what had really left an impression on the younger Elric brother during their time in Table City was the very person that they were making this trip to see: Julia Crichton, the strong and beautiful girl that Al and Ed had meet during their last adventure in Table City. Even though their time spent together had been short, Julia's kind spirit and her determination to liberate her homeland had caused the young Alchemist to fall for the strawberry-blond. Before leaving Table City to continue their search, Alphonse confessed to Julia and promised that after he had reclaimed his body he would come back to see her and to his delight, Julia had agreed to wait for him.

At that point, Al had become even more determined to regain his human body, with the prospect returning to see the girl of his dreams acting as the drive that kept him going despite all of the trials and obstacles that got in his path. And then, 6 months after after leaving Table City, the Elric Brothers had succeeded in there quest: Edward manged to pull Alphonse's body out of the Gate, at the cost of his ability to Transmute. But despite finally succeeding Al did not immediately fulfill his promise to visit Julia for a couple of reasons. For one, after having been on the other side of the Gate for five years, Al's body was very weak and malnourished, making travel not a particularly wise idea. It had taken nearly a year for Al's body to recover enough to be able to handle a trip to Table City. The other reason was that Al was, in all honesty, really nervous about seeing Julia again. Al had never felt this way about a girl before and while it did feel great, it also scared Al greatly.

"I'm sorry Brother." Al finally said after sometime," It's just, it's been over a year since I've seen Julia. What am I supposed to say to her? What if she doesn't feel the same way about me? What if she's found someone else" Al stared down at the floor as he let his uncertainties flood his mind. Before the Promised Day, Al's focus had been entirely on getting his body back, but after he did retrieve it and then had to spend a year back home before he was strong enough to visit Julia, he couldn't help but wonder what she had been doing all of this time. What if she decided not to wait for him, if he was going all this way only to find the girl he had been dreaming about for so long did not return his feelings. Even with all the pain he had endured in his life, Al wasn't confident that his heart could sustain a blow like that.

Rather than simply brush off Alphonse's concerns as he had for most the train ride, Edward's face softened a bit as he registered these questions. "Listen Al," Ed began a few moments later, then waited for Al to raise his head again to listen to him before continuing."I get that your scared, and I know that its been awhile since you've seen Julia so that must makes this even worse. But believe me when I say this. There is no way in hell that Julia has forgotten you after all the you've done to help her. And you know Julia, she is not the kinda girl who would go back on her word and she also isn't the kind a girl who would go with just any average Joe. She wants the best guy in the world and you know what Al," Ed pointed his finger at Al, "The best guy in the whole world is sitting right in front of me. So don't worry about her not wanting to see you again, okay?" Ed finished his speech with a look in his eyes that Al knew very well: It was the look his brother gave when any further arguing with him was absolutely pointless.

"You really think so Brother?" Al asked with wide eyes at the absolute certainty of Ed's declaration.

"I know so." Ed answered with conviction. " And if anyone says anything different I'll knock them out for ya." He added with a smirk.

Al stared at his Brother for a few moments, letting the speech seep into his mind. Al began to draw confidence from them, and cast aside the doubts that had been plaguing him since he had sat down on the train that morning. "You're right Brother." Al finally said, "I'm not going to let my anxieties get the better of me anymore." His eyes had a fire in them now. " No matter what happens I made a promise that I would see Julia again and I'm going to make sure I keep it. Thank you."

Edward couldn't help but be proud of the new found determination his little brother was showing now. _"You've really become a great man Al, haven't you."_, Ed thought to himself,_ "Julia sure is gonna be surprised when she sees you now."_ He couldn't help but grin happily at the thought.

"But you know Ed", Al added, "I'm kinda surprised at you, being this calm and rational about all this. I didn't think you'd had grown up this much." He said with a smirk on his face. Just as Al had expected, the former Fullmetal Alchemist's expression changed from one of pride to one of white hot fury as he sprung forward grabbing the front Al's shirt in a blind rage.

"WHAT! DID YOU THINK I'D STILL BE A MIDGET AT EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD!?, Ed bellowed at the top of his lungs, scaring the other passengers around them. That's right, even though Ed and Al were now at roughly the same height, that didn't mean Ed's Napoleon complex had diminished in anyway.

Al burst out laughing as his brother's typical reaction. "Never mind," Al said between laughs, "You haven't changed a bit." He added. Of course Ed, already in the middle of the rant, only mistook that for another jab at his height and added more fuel to the fire.

"I'M NOT SHORT ANYMORE DAMNIT!", Ed shouted, "I'M JUST AS TALL AS YOU ARE NOW, YOU JERK!" Having had enough of Edward's outbursts, one of the passengers decided to put an end to all the commotion.

"Hey kid," The man interjected, "We all get it, you're not short now could you-" Unfortunately, the man was unable to finish that sentence because Ed, still in the middle of his rant, mistook the man's usage of the words 'kid' and 'short' as yet another jab as his height and promptly socked the man in the mouth and knocked him out cold.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING AN ANT SO SMALL HE COULD RIDE ON THE BACK OF A GRASSHOPPER!" Ed yelled at the poor unconscious man who was foolish enough to mention the word "short" in Edward Elric's presence. At this point Al was holding his sides in pain because he was laughing so hard.

"Aw man." Al said after he had finally stopped laughing and had caught his breath. " I really needed that." Just for a moment Al was able to completely forget about his worries about seeing Julia and enjoy the train ride with his brother. By this time, Edward had finally cooled down from his rant and decided to take a nap for the rest of the ride. As his brother lay asleep an the chair across from him Alphonse looked out the window and stared in the direction of Table City, which as now just barely visible, far off in the distance. As his thoughts began to drift back towards seeing Julia, Al found that all of the apprehension and uncertainty from before was gone and had been replaced with a feeling of excitement to she his dream girl once again. And so with a determined look on his face as stared on at Table city and said out loud to himself: "I'm almost there, Julia. I'm going to keep my promise to you."

**End of Chapter 1**

**Thank you for reading, and please review this chapter. Chapter 2 will hopefully be out in a few days.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed and followed Chapter 1, I appreciate all of your support. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Its characters and world belong to Himoru Arakawa.**

**Fullmetal Alchemist: Reunion**

**Chapter 2**

"Alright now, dear, how has your leg been treating you?"

"Very well Gonzales, you did an excellent job before as always."

"I thank you kindly Julia. Now, have you been sure to keep up maintenance on it as I instructed?"

"Of course Gonzales.", Julia replied, "I make sure to clean and polish it regularly just as you told me to."

"Very good." Gonzales responded happily as he inspected the automail thoroughly. While Gonzales's automail may not be as impressive in appearance as the automail made in Amestris, it was every bit as reliable, all due to the old engineer considerable experience and skill. "Now how have you been since the last time I saw you?", Gonzales inquired. "From what I've heard you've been very busy as of late."

Julia smiled back at the old man. "Well yes you could say I've been very busy lately.", she answered. " We've finally finished building the new school a few weeks ago, so now I've been holding lessons regularly now. And with a lot more students then before.", she added with a smile. Since the reconstruction of Milos had begun following Creta's departure from the valley, Julia had been hard at work ensuring that a proper school be built for all the children in valley to attend. It had taken time and hard work, but it was all worth it in the end, Julia was more than happy with the results. It seemed as if there was too much too be happy about to keep track of when it came to her homeland's recovery. It was still a struggle mind you, as Creta and Amestris's forces initially hadn't relented in pursuing their claims over the homeland. The Amestrians sent replacements for the corrupts overseers of Table City not too long after the revolt and the Cretans sent reinforcements to reclaim their compound overlooking their valley not too long after that. But the Milosians did not yield to the demands of either this time, they stood their ground against both of their former oppressors. Julia in particular was very vocal in her refusal to allow either country to attempt to exploit her people again and before long she had be come the symbol of the continued independence if Milos. The dispute could have turned into a full scale conflict had not been for the uprising in Central. Following the attempted coup and the death of Fuhrer King Bradley, the Amestrian Military had officially pulled out of the Valley and left Table City to the Milosians. Further more political pressure had forced the Cretan military to pull out themselves and with that, the people of Milos were able to truly enjoy freedom for the first time in decades.

"Wonderful!" Gonzales commented with a smile. "It seems like things are truly looking up for you my dear." And with that, the old man finished polishing the automail leg and sat up. "All done! Your leg is in fine condition." Julia smiled at Gonzales as she stood up in order to test out the automail. "How does it feel?" Gonzales inquired.

"Perfect." Julia replied happily, " I can walk just fine on it, your repair was as well done as ever Gonzales, thank you."

"Ah you're more than welcome my dear." Gonzales said, then he looked down on the leg, he seemed to become very reflective in his thoughts. "You know, looking at your leg now, I can't help but think about that Elric boy's automail." Gonzales stated. "Its been over a year since I've last seen them and I can't help but wonder just how much more magnificent its become since then, especially considering how brilliant the girl who made them is, don't you think Julia?" At this Julia herself couldn't but think back on the two whom she felt she and the entire valley owed their gratitude towards: The Elric Brothers, Edward and Alphonse. The two young alchemists had arrived in Table City just as things were about to come to ahead. Even though the two were Amestrian and Edward himself being a State Alchemist on top of that, both brothers valiantly put their lives on the line in order to ensure that the valley did not fall prey to the massacre that outside forces were pushing it towards. Yes indeed, the more she thought about it, the more Julia began to smile fondly on how much Alphonse and Edward had helped her and her people.

"Yes, I imagine your right Gonzales." Julia finally replied, "I hope they both are doing well." With that, Julia reached into her coat pocket and handed Gonzales the money for the tune-up. "Anyway, I need to get going now, thank you for everything Gonzales." Julia said.

"Your more than welcome Julia." Gonzales said back, "Feel free to come down in case anything happens to your leg, I'm always open for you." And with that, Julia gave one last wave and smile to Gonzales and headed out of the shop and onto the streets. However, at this point, Julia's mind had drifted off once again to the Elric Brothers: Or rather, the _younger _brother.

Yes indeed, Julia often found herself thinking of just what have become of Alphonse Elric since he and his brother departed from the city over a year ago. The kind boy who had been cursed with being soul-bound to a suit of armor, cut off from all physical contact with the world for the crime of trying to bring his beloved mother back to life had quickly melted the ginger-haired beauty's heart. Even though he had been called a monster by many of her countrymen upon his arrival, she could tell from the start that he was in fact a sweet young man determined to amend for his mistakes and aid and protect anyone he held dear to him, which in no short time, had come to include Julia herself, something that seemed to make her heart flutter at the thought of it. When Al had made her a promise that he would return to see her once he had recovered his true body and his brother's missing limbs, she was more then happy to agree to wait for that day. Even with all of the struggles that Julia had gone though in this time to maintain Milos's independence, the thought of Alphonse's return was one of the things that kept her going through it all: She wanted Al to be proud of how far She and her homeland had came since his departure.

Even after nearly two years, Julia was still waiting with baited breath for Al to return. Not that she wasn't hard at work with restoring the homeland, but he had remained the only man that would possibly catch her eye. And their had been other men, several would be suitors had came and gone (usually with a broken nose) in an attempt to woe the hero of Milos, and all had been rejected without a second thought. But in all this time Julia had not heard from Alphonse about if and when he would be coming. When word reached Table City about the attempted coup in Central, Julia couldn't help but fear if Al and Ed had been involved in the conflict and something had happened to them. But even with these fears and the lack of confirmation of when Al would return, Julia had not lost faith in him. She knew someone as string-willed and determined as Al would never give up in his quest or fail to keep his promise. He would return someday, and in his own body for that matter, and then, well, Julia couldn't help but blush at the thought of what would happen then.

"You blushing at the thought of me sweetheart?" came a voice that jolted Julia out of her thoughts. Julia could barely hold in her disgust as she turned to face none other that Mortimer Gallagher, one of her aforementioned suitors. Mortimer had been one of the first to attempt to win Julia and so far, the only one who had not seemed to get the message yet. In the past several months he has attempted woe Julia at least once a week and almost always ends up eating pavement but he still comes back for more. At this point Julia was really starting to get fed up with advances.

"Mortimer." Julia replied curtly, "If you're here to ask me out for the hundredth time, let me just save you the trouble and tell you no right now." At which point Julia turned around and began to walk away. Sadly, it seemed that Mortimer **still** didn't get the message.

"Come on baby." he responded with his usual lecherous grin, "Why do you keep with the hard to get act, we both know you want me." at this point he walked up to her and attempted grab her by the had and turn her around. Of course, Mortimer once again seemed to forget who he was talking to, and when his hand touched her's it quickly shot up to his wrist and in on motion twisted his whole arm back.

"How many time am I going to have to tell you before you get it through your dumb skull." Julia angrily stated as Mortimer withered in pain, "**Don't call me "baby" and don't ever touch me! Got it!**"

"Let go you crazy bi-" Mortimer tried to say but was cut off when Julia's fist collided with his mouth. She promptly let go of his arm and let the slimy pig fall to the ground as she stormed away.

"Urggh!", Julia groaned as she put as much distance between herself and Mortimer as fast as she could. "When is that creep gonna get that I'm not interested in him in the slightest." It seemed as if Mortimer simply refused to accept this fact and thought if he just badgered her long enough she would submit to him. _Like hell that will ever happen._ She thought to herself. It was at times like these that she really wish Alphonse would arrive soon. If her punches weren't enough to make that slimeball Mortimer back off, then maybe a taste of Al's alchemy would, she smiled at the thought.

Once Julia had determined that Mortimer had not in fact followed her, she realized that she had reached the outer wall of Table City and was looking down at the train station that would one day be where Alphonse would step out of when he came to see her. Looking down at the station, Julia faintly smiled as she thought warmly on the fated day when she would see her dear Alphonse once more. "I'm still waiting for you, Alphonse" Julia stated to herself, "I know that you won't let me down."

**End of Chapter 2**

**Thank you for reading. Please review this chapter. Chapter 3 will be out as soon as possible.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to all who have read and reviewed and followed the story so far. I truly appreciate all of your support.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Its characters and world belong to Himoru Arakawa. Please support the official release.**

**Fullmetal Alchemist: Reunion**

**Chapter 3**

As the train pulled into the station at Table City, Alphonse once again felt a surge of both excitement and apprehension go through out his body. _We're finally here._ Al thought to himself, _I'll get to see her soon_. Rising from his seat, Al leaned towards his sleeping brother and attempted to awaken him. But as always, waking Edward Elric for his slumber proved to be much easier said than done. "Come on Brother", Al said as he continued to shake Ed in an effort to wake him. "We've reached Table City, we have to get off the train now. Ed, wake up already." Al was starting to get annoyed with his brother's inability to awaken.

"Urggh...No Al...I don't wanna wake up...besides its Saturday...no school..." Ed made out in his sleep. Al groaned in frustration as Ed still refused to wake up. Finally fed up, Al resulted to his last resort in his arsenal to awaken his brother.

"Wake up you **pipsqueak**." Al said. Only the honed reflexes Alphonse had gained in all of his training over the years allowed him to dodge as Edward jolted out of his slumber and lunged in the general direction of who had just called him a pipsqueak all while flames of rage poured out of his mouth.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORTER THAN ROY MUSTANG'S MINI-SKIRT!?" Ed roared at the top of his lungs. Before he could inquire further into who had called him that most accursed word Edward's suitcase was flung at him by his younger brother who was already making his way off the train. Barley catching the suitcase before it struck him, Ed glared after Al's fleeing form. "AL WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?", he shouted. Al turned back towards his brother with a look of both annoyance and eagerness.

"Come on Ed, the train's arrived at Table City." Al answered, "We have to get off and start looking for Julia." With that Al turned back and exited the train car, not even bothering to wait for his older brother to catch up.

"Hey Al, wait up will ya?" Ed complained as he hurried to get off the train and join his brother on the platform. Sure, Ed knew how eager Al was to find Julia and he was grateful that he didn't have to coax him off the train as Ed had feared he'd have to based on his younger brother's apprehension on the situation but now he was starting to regret his pep talk he'd given Al earlier just a bit: He was finding this confident and anxious Al just a bit more annoying than nervous Al. Stepping onto the train platform, Ed found his younger brother waiting for him anxiously. "Was all that really necessary?" Ed asked with an annoyed look on his face. Al rolled his eyes at the question a bit.

"I spent five minutes trying to wake you up." Al replied, "And I would still be if I hadn't called you a p-" Al stopped himself as he noticed the dark aura that had started to envelop the older and now _extremely _pissed Elric brother that clearly sent the message, _Go on. Say pipsqueak again. I dare you._ Al contemplated accepting the challenge for a second before deciding that there were more important things to do right now than taunt his brother, namely: finding Julia. "Lets just get going okay?" Al suggested. Luckily, Ed cooled down fairly quickly after that and the two brothers set off from the platform in search of Julia Crichton.

As the Elric Brothers walked through the streets of Table City, they both took into account how much it had changed since they had last been there. All of the damage from the fighting had since been repaired and all signs of Amestrian presence had been removed. In fact after the Promised Day, Central Command had officially handed the city over to the people of Milos as an olive branch. The use of the city as an outpost would be extremely valuable to the Milosians should Creta return to try and retake the valley.

The other thing that the brothers, or rather Edward, took into account after a good hour of aimlessly searching the city for Julia was that the city was as Ed proclaimed in the middle of a crowded street: "TOO DAMN BIG!" Which of course brought the eyes of all in the street upon a now very irritated Edward and an extremely embarrassed Alphonse.

"Brother, Alphonse reprimanded his older brother, "Settle down, we're causing a scene." Ed look towards his brother with a very impatient look on his face.

"Well its not my fault that this place _is_ so freaking huge!." Ed countered. "We don't even know where Julia is right now, how the hell are we supposed to find her at this rate. You should have called her letting her no you'd be coming: Then she'd have been waiting and we would be on this hopeless search. Al just sighed at this comment, he had to admit that his older brother had a point: Letting Julia know that he was coming for his promised visit would have made things much easier in the long term. However, Julia did not have a phone of her own for Al to call at the time they had last seen her and neither had Al since at the time he and Ed were still working for the military and so were always on the move, it made contact by phone very difficult at the least. Of course there was another reason Al had not contacted Julia about coming to visit: Because the whole prospect of talking to the beautiful girl again even _over a phone_ was still too scary for the poor boy. Still, there was nothing they could do to change that now so the only thing they could do was find Julia somehow. And like that am idea dawned on the younger Elric brother.

"I have an idea of how we can find her." Al finally stated, to which his brother perked up at the tought that their search might be ending soon. "You remember Gonzales, the automail mechanic we met when we were her last time?"

Yeah, what of it?" Edward replied, clearly remembering how the old man had dragged him into his workshop to inspect his own automail during their first meeting.

Well, he's the own who made Julia's new leg." Al continued, "So he must take still be the on who takes care of it when Julia needs it. So he must know where we can find her. Let's go find him and ask when he last saw her."

"Alright." Ed responded, "Better then just wandering aimlessly I guess. But if that old geezer tries to give another inspection if my automail I'm kicking his ass, got it." Alphonse just nodded at this usual claim of the former Fullmetal Alchemist and now with some idea of what they were doing the two brothers headed off in the direction of the tram down to the valley where they remembered Gonzales's shop having been when they last saw the eccentric mechanic.

Neither of them noticed the glare they were receiving from a certain rat-faced man. For by mere chance, Mortimer Gallagher had been on the same street as the Elrics when Ed had made his outburst. Still walking off Julia's latest rejection of his advances, Mortimer at first hadn't cared for the foreigner's complaints regarding the size of the city but when he had mentioned Julia's name, the so-called "ladies-man" had become immediately interested in what he had to say. At first he wasn't sure if they meant "his" Julia, but when they mentioned asking the old man if he'd seen her Mortimer knew that they were in fact talking. Jealously and anger filled Mortimer's mind at the thought of what the tow Amestrians could possibly want with "his"girl, conveniently forgetting that Julia had knocked him on his ass following his most recent effort to "court" her. _ Julia is "my woman",_The delusional slimeball thought to himself. _No way am I letting those two foreigners anywhere near her._ And with that Mortimer began to tail the brothers as the made for the lift down into the Valley of Milos.

**End of Chapter 3**

**Thank you for reading. Please review the chapter. Chapter 4 will be out as soon as possible**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to all who have read and reviewed this story so far. I truly appreciate all of your support.**

**Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan-based story. Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Funimation Entertainment, Madhouse Entertainment, Manga Entertainment and Hiromu Arakawa. Please support the official release.**

**Fullmetal Alchemist: Reunion**

**Chapter 4**

Upon arriving at her apartment, Julia's thoughts were temporarily driven away from Alphonse Elric when she found a letter in her mailbox that she had been expecting for quite some time now. Quickly taking the letter and reading the address written on the envelope and smiled when she saw it was indeed from the person she had been expecting: Colonel Herschel, or as Julia knew him better as, Ashleigh Crichton, her older brother.

During the chaos of the battle to liberate Milos the siblings had been reunited for the first time in several years since they were separated on the night of their parents' murder. Ashleigh, who had had his very face stolen by their parent's murderer, had long since joined the Cretan military and become a high ranking officer in charge of the occupation of Milos. Obsessed with revenge against those he had felt done wrong to their family, the masked alchemist had intended to destroy his own homeland, which caused him to come into conflict with his own sister. When their battle had left him mortally wounded, Julia used that last of the Sanguine Star to perform Human Transmutation on her brother, saving Ashleigh's life and restoring his face nut at the price of one of her legs and one of Ashleigh's arms. In the aftermath, Ashleigh had returned to serving in the Cretan military and thus had to leave Milos when the army pulled out, but he and Julia had remained in contact since then. They had to be careful with their writing though as Ashleigh had entered the military under an alias, if their correspondence accidentally revealed who Ashleigh really was, the consequences could be dire. However, both Julia and Ashleigh felt it was well worth the risk to remain in contact after all their time apart.

Excited to see what her brother had written about this time Julia quickly entered her apartment, sat down at the table in her kitchen, opened the envelope, took out the letter and began to read.

_Dearest Sister,_

_ It was wonderful to here from you once again and I am glad to here you are doing well. I apologize for taking longer than expected to reply to your letter but with everything that has been going one her in Creta in the past few months has kept me quite occupied._

_ The military sent me on assignment out in the west in order to deal with an insurgence amonget the civilians. I can't go into detail for obvious reason and I'm sorry for having to leave you in the dark Julia but I will tell you that the situation did not have to escalate to violence, we were handle the issue peacefully this time._

_ To answer your question from before, I can tell you that for now the Cretans don't intend to try and re-occupy Milos. I admit that I was concerned something you happen following the rebellion among the Amestrian leaders that my superiors would use that as a chance to reclaim our homeland or even invade Amestris itself. But it would seem that the Amestrian military has recovered quickly enough that the Cretans have decided it would not be wise to violate the treaty. If the last thing the Cretan military wants is to get into a war with Amestris then Milos should be safe from another invasion, for now._

_ But enough of that, how are you doing? I understand that reconstruction of Milos has been coming along very well. Mother and Father would be very proud of all that you've done for our home._

_ I hope to hear from you soon, but until then be well my sister._

_Your dear brother,_

_Ashleigh_

Julia smiled as she finished reading the letter. It was always wonderful to hear from her brother, the letters they shared served as proof that he was still alive. After spending so much time apart Julia was more than grateful that she now had Ashleigh back in her life even if she could not see him as often as she would like. She would love for her brother to one day resign from the Cretan military and return home for good, that would make her more than happy. It dawned on her that she was in fact waiting on two men to finally return to see her: Ashleigh and Alphonse.

"That seems to be the story of my life.", Julia said out loud. To be fair, it wasn't as if Julia was just sitting around waiting for Al and Ashleigh to see her though. In fact after becoming confident in her ability to walk with an automail leg Julia had been hard at work not only at helping rebuild Milos but also to better herself. She had been working to improve her hand-to-hand fight (as evident by how quickly she had floored that creep Mortimer earlier.) as well as improving her alchemy. After opening the Gate to save her brother Julia had discovered that she no longer required a Transmutation circle to per from alchemical transmutations. Now she could perform them by using the same clapping motion that the Elric Brothers had displayed during their time in Table City. It had taken awhile to get used to the new style of transmutation but the benefits of no longer needed to draw the necessary runes to perform alchemy. With all this plus teaching the children of Milos regularly as well as shaking off all her would-be suitors, no it was safe to say that Julia Crichton was making very good use of her time.

Still, all these things didn't take away from the fact that Julia missed both Ashleigh and Alphonse dearly and it did get lonely sometimes, at night particular, when there was no one else around

and she was having trouble sleeping. Julia suddenly shuddered at the thought as a memory of one those sleepless nights a few months ago occurred to her. On that particular night, as Julia sat in silence unable to fall asleep a rather frightening thought had occurred to her: _I_s_ this what Alphonse feels like at night? _The thought of someone as sweet and kind as Alphonse being enforced to endure such solitude every night had nearly brought her to tears. Further the idea had made her pray for Alphonse to regain his real body even more than before, not just so he would return to see her but so that he wouldn't have to suffer that much anymore. It had been on that night that Julia had begun to truly realize just how much she cared for the younger Elric brother.

Pushing such thoughts aside, Julia decided to reply to Ashleigh's letter now to get her mind off Al. And with that the young woman grabbed a piece of paper and pen and began to write a response letter to her older brother.

**Thank you for reading. Please review the chapter. Chapter 5 will be out as soon as possible.**


End file.
